There are two easy (well, relatively easy) options for the policy analyst. One is to take the critique-laden road which encourages pessimism, even cynicism, and endless critical questioning. The products of this road are the despair of policy makers who want answers so they can enact change and reform. They charge that this path brings questions but no solutions. This is the cry of the school effectiveness and improvement movement, for example. For this road, we need only assent to the socio-political critiques outlined in the previous chapter. The other road is the solutions-rich road in which answers are plentiful and the feeling is often one of heady optimism (as well as recognition of the necessity of hard graft to bring about the touted solutions). The products of this road are the despair of the critical thinkers and analysts. They charge that this path brings only the illusion of solving problems and systematically overlooks the deeper issues that superficial change and reform do not address. So, we need both then. Correct? Would that it were so simple. If we are to avoid the extremes of ‘insipid pessimism’ and ‘jolly eutopianisms’, as declared in Chapter 1, we need something more than a simplistic combination of the two roads. The critiques of the possibility of a more democratic future for education – especially charges that instrumental and economistic priorities have become ingrained into the system – do not simply fade away.